In integrated circuit (IC) structures, a transistor is a critical component for implementing digital circuitry designs. Generally, a transistor includes three electrical terminals: a source, a drain, and a gate. By applying different voltages to the gate terminal, the flow of electric current between the source terminal and the drain terminal of the transistor can be switched on or off. The presence or absence of an applied voltage at the gate terminal of a transistor can be identified as “on” and “off” states of the transistor. Thus, transistors can serve as a switching element in various IC designs, e.g., by manipulating a voltage applied to the gate of each transistor and thereby affecting the flow of electrical current between source and drain terminals of each transistor.
Transistor design and placement can influence the electrical behavior of interconnected elements in an electronic circuit. One conventional arrangement of elements in signal processing applications is the switched capacitor circuit. A switched capacitor circuit can include one or more capacitors electrically connected to the source and/or drain terminals of a transistor, such that the transistor governs the IC structure's ability to charge and discharge the various capacitors in the circuit. Switched capacitors can have a wide variety of applications, particularly in microcircuitry, and an example application may include oscillator circuits, also known as “oscillators.” Oscillators generally encompass any circuit which produces an alternating current and/or voltage (AC) output. Conventional oscillators may have multiple transistors therein, e.g., metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) which may be designed to exhibit predetermined operational properties. For example, the “threshold voltage” of the gate for manipulating current flow between source and drain terminals may be predetermined after a MOSFET is manufactured with a particular size. As IC technology continues to decrease in size, the ability to provide high performance oscillators with switched capacitors therein presents a significant technical challenge.